


Be Careful What You Wish For

by Lunar_L



Series: Miraculous Drabbles [15]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien has issues, Angst, F/M, Marinette has no idea who Chat or Adrien is, Married adrinette, Plagg Cares, mama Agreste is alive and kicking, trapped in an alternate Paris
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-08-06 02:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16379978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunar_L/pseuds/Lunar_L
Summary: Carapace uses his Shelter power to protect himself and Chat from an akumas shock wave and the two soon find themselves in some kind of alternate version of Paris where Chat's own wife has no idea who he is. Not only that, but she's never heard of any Parisian superheroes?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> From the 50 Dialogue Prompts
> 
> "I want an answer,goddammit" for MariChat. Thanks :D (I am sorry if I misspelled something!)"

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my apartment!?”

The loud yell was harsh on his sensitive hearing and Chat leapt about a foot in the air, probably leaving behind a couple of his extra lives on the floor with his unconscious teammate. He sprung round, ready to pounce almost instantly before recognising the verbal attacker and dropping his guard.

“Relax Marinette, it’s only us,” he told her, deciding to side step the confusion he felt as he wondered how she had managed to make it back before them and curious as to why she’d dropped her transformation.

The akuma they had been fighting a few short minutes ago was a would-be fashion designer calling himself the Djinn and he had a grudge against Gabriel Agreste. The man had approached Adrien at a shoot, begging him to try his new Arabian Nights themed designs since he knew the 27 year old man had pull within the company these days. Adrien had seen immediately that the work was sub-par. The stitching was of inferior quality and the materials were a poor match to the cut and appearance of the pieces. He had been trying to work out how to phrase his observations politely when his father had appeared and verbally torn the man’s designs apart.

After the obvious akumatisation, the man had begun shooting some kind of red genie magic at people on the streets around him. It had been affecting everyone differently, some disappearing completely while others were apparently replaced with other people, who all seemed equally confused and frightened by the events around them. Some almost seemed lucky in comparison as nothing appeared to change around them at all. It had been confusing and as such had been hard to pin down a strategy to stop the madness.

Chat had been unfortunate enough to see his own father attacked as the man attempted to flee, a sight which would have been upsetting enough were it not for the fact that the whole world had started to quake and crumble around them immediately after. Carapace had spotted a huge chunk of rubble heading for Chat and if he hadn’t called for his Shelter, the two of them might not have made it out in one piece. The two had then watched as a sickening blood red wave of energy had washed over everything, buildings repairing and people appearing and disappearing from their places on the streets around them. When the wave had ebbed away, and the shelter had been dropped, there was no sign of the akuma or the rest of the team. In fact, the heroes themselves appeared to be the biggest spectacle -passersby staring strangely or avoiding eye contact all together. And as if things hadn’t been weird enough, Carapace had just up and passed out. Chat had decided that it would be easier to bring him back to his own place -since that was closer than Nino and Alya’s- and he had let them in through the large bay window only a moment before Marinette had appeared and begun shouting at them. Something she was still doing.

“That doesn’t really clear anything up!” she seethed, reaching for the heavy, dog shaped lamp sitting on the side table and wielding it like a bat. He frowned in confusion. He was pretty sure they didn’t own a lamp like that, where had that come from?

“Who are you!” she said again, teeth gnashing in both fear and anger, “And why are you dressed like that!?”

Chat’s worry grew the longer he watched her reaction to him and Carapace, until it felt like an almost tangible being in the room beside him. Something was very, very wrong here. “It’s me,” he told her soothingly, “It’s Chat Noir. It’s A-”

“And what’s that? Your furry handle?” she snapped.

“What!? No! I’m a superhero, _we’re_ superheroes. We protect Paris!”

She sneered at him as a snort of derision escaped her. “Don’t be stupid,” she said, “France doesn’t have any superheroes. The closest is _Strom Star_ in Germany.”

His eyes widened, and his jaw gaped as he came to understand that the woman in front of him and the world around him were clearly not the ones he had come to know and love. He wasn’t in Kansas anymore. “Marinette, I-“

“How do you know my name!?” she asked hysterically, “I want an answer goddammit!”

“I’m…I’m your husband,” he spoke brokenly, his voice cracking and his pitch off as he tried to fight tears, “I’m Adrien.”

“Husband!?” Marinette said, her tone somewhere between sarcastic and fearful, “I don’t have a husband!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels like it could easily spawn it's own whole fic at some point but I'm too busy to do this just for fun. Feel free to request another part if you want it on my tumblr @paganinpurple


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino is sleeping comfortably, Marinette is no longer screaming and Adrien awkwardly realises he is basically a stranger to her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wonderful person called Miraculousfan requested this second part to my genie world AU

“I still don’t quite believe this,” Marinette said as she closed the door to the bedroom Nino was now resting in, “I mean you’re Adrien Agreste, top fashion model. Your father is  _The_  Gabriel.”

“Uh, yeah,” said Agreste replied, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly, “Though where I come from, I don’t really model anymore.”

“Really?” she said, leading the way to the small kitchenette just off the living space. It was eerie to see how similar the apartment looked to the same one he knew as his home. Everything was decorated almost identically, but that was hardly surprising given that Marinette had been the one to design their home décor look back in his own (Reality? Time? Dimension?) home. “What do you do where you come from?” she asked as she began to make them tea.

“Um, I’m actually…a photographer,” he said, trying to help, but finding many things stored in different places than he was expecting. He must have had more input in organising the kitchen than he had realised. “I still work for my father’s company but I’m the one behind the lens now. I do freelance work as well -families and weddings and stuff.” He moved to the small table and took his usual seat near the small heater mounted on the wall, giving up on his attempt to be anything other than a hindrance.

She joined him after a few minutes, two mugs of lavender tea in hand and Adrien silently mourned the loss of his favourite fruity concoction she would have served him if everything was normal. “Watch you don’t get too warm there,” she said, nodding her head to indicate the heater, “It gets really hot really fast.”

 _I know_ , he thought to himself,  _it’s why I like this spot._

“So, anyway…how do you know Nino?” she asked, lifting the mug to her lips for a sip. He mirrored her.

“He’s my best friend. We met the same way I met you. Collège. Mlle Bustier’s class.” Her eyes widened in shock. “You went to public school?” she asked in a scandalised tone of voice, “That’s always been one of the things the press used to go on about, that you weren’t seen out much as a kid, except for photo shoots and publicity stuff.” He shrugged in response, not really wanting to relive his fight for freedom as he had grown up. “So…you became best friends with Nino at school. Then you became a superhero,” she said with a slight tone of disbelief.

 “And so did you,” he told her with a soft smile, “I fell in love with my mysterious partner on the same day she fell in love with the new boy at school.” He watched her blush strongly at that and she dropped her gaze to her nearly empty cup of tea. “We bounced around each other for a couple of years - being oblivious idiots. Me more so than you, since you at least realised Chat Noir had a crush on you.”

“And then we…” She trailed off, a slight edge of discomfort about her but a clear curiosity in her eyes. 

She was snooping. His smile turned sly. “We’ve been together for ten years,” he told her, “Married for three now. You kept turning down my proposal, saying were still too young.” 

Her eyes widened briefly before the curious twinkle returned, renewed. “And you lived here?” She indicated the apartment around them.

“Yeah. You always loved this apartment block. Said you had ever since you were a kid, so when a space opened up, we grabbed it.”

“Yeah,” she said, “Same here. Though it’s just me.”

He was simultaneously thrilled and annoyed at that. Thrilled because he definitely didn’t like the idea of Marinette being with anyone else. They’d been together since seventeen and she was such a big part of his life and hers his, that he wasn’t sure how to even process the idea of her with a different guy. 

But at the same time, Marinette was amazing and deserved to be loved, regardless of what different circumstances had happened here. She was talented, caring and above all – gorgeous. So why wasn’t she seeing anyone?

She seemed to catch his train of thought. “I’ve dated,” she said, “But I‘ve never truly clicked with anyone before. I’ve never had a relationship last more than a year before. Alya says my standards are too high.” She snickered a little but there was no real humour in it. 

He reached across the table and placed his hand over hers like he always did when she was feeling insecure. She flinched a little at the contact, another awful reminder that she didn’t really know him here. “You’re amazing,” he told her, “and you deserve someone who makes you feel amazing.” 

She dragged her hand out from under his as she choked on her sudden gasp of air, coughing and sipping the last of her tea to clear her throat. “Riiiiight…” she stammered before quickly changing the subject, “So, um, what are you going to do now that you’re trapped here?” 

Adrien frowned. He’d been simmering on that very thought in the back of his mind this entire time and there was only one true lead he could think of.

“Tomorrow morning, once Nino’s feeling better and it’s light out, we’ll see if we can track down the Guardian.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request another chapter @paganinpurple.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is not pleased with Master Fu's reaction when he learns about the alternate timeline

Adrien slammed the door to the massage parlour as hard as he could when he exited, a slightly frazzled looking Nino opening it again as he followed him out a few moments later.

“So…that didn’t go so well,” he said as he fell into stride beside his best friend, the two of them moving along the street quickly.

Adrien scowled. “Oh really? I hadn’t noticed,” he snarled sarcastically, “I can’t believe he doesn’t think this is something to be concerned about.”

“In his defence,” Nino said, “nothing’s changed for him. We’re just a couple of guys who showed up with intimate knowledge of the miraculous we shouldn’t have known and started demanding he help us get back to our timeline.”

“Yeah, but we have two miraculous which he already has tucked away safely, so he has to know we’re legit. Wayzz talked to himself. We transformed. He seemed to believe us.” He stopped dead in his tracks, Nino almost tripping in his haste to slow his own momentum enough to turn and face him. Staring at the ring on the finger of his right hand for a moment, Adrien sighed before his gaze travelled to the other ring he always wore – the one on his left ring finger. “I don’t understand why you’re so calm, Nino. Don’t you miss Alya?”

“Of course, I do man, and I’m freaking out too. Really. It’s just-” -he waved his hands around for a moment or two as he tried to organise his thoughts- “-what he said was more ‘I’m not sure what to do yet, so let’s try not to panic’ than ‘I don’t care,’ you know?” He placed his hands onto Adrien’s shoulders and the other man finally found himself looking up at his friend properly. “We’re going to get home. He promised he’d investigate.”

“I know. It’s…not just that though. There was something he said. Something that…” he tapered off as he began to walk again, heading for his -Marinette’s- apartment. Nino followed, watching him and waiting a moment or two in the hopes that he would continue unprompted. He thought back to everything Master Fu had said and desperately tried to think of what might have stood out to Adrien as important.

“What was it?” Nino finally asked, when Adrien made no attempt to continue, “What did he say?”

Biting his lip to buy himself a little time before he spoke, Adrien considered how to word what he was thinking. “He said,” he started carefully, “that it would be easier if he had the Grimoire. But that it was missing in this time and he was surprised we had it in ours because he thought it had been lost with the Butterfly miraculous.

“It’s just…if Marinette got it from my father in our time, that probably means he still has it here. But, uh, there was another Wayzz in there, and Marinette already confirmed there’s another Nino here when she called your cell, so-”

“So, there’s probably another Adrien here too, and that means you can’t just go up to your dad’s house and ask for the book. I gotcha.”

A moment passed, then two before Nino gave a gasp and suddenly started glancing around the street at the passers-by in an unsettled manner, appearing paranoid and making Adrien extremely uneasy. “What is it?” he asked.

Instead of answering, Nino removed his cap and placed it over Adrien’s head, pulling the bill low to cover as much of his face as he could manage. “Shh,” he said when Adrien tried to protest, “We’re nearly back at Marinette’s. I’ll explain in a moment. Inside.”

It really did seem like only a moment had passed before they were dashing up the stairs of the building and ducking into the apartment, Marinette appearing from the kitchen at the sound of their sudden arrival. Adrien felt another brief jolt of guilt over her skipping work in order to be around if they needed her. From some of their conversation last night, he had gotten the impression that she couldn’t really afford too much of a drop in her pay cheque.

“So, what happened?” she asked, watching once again in shock as Plagg and Wayzz darted from their respective hiding places to rest on the coffee table together. It was clearly something she wasn’t going to get used to any time soon. Wayzz gave her a small bow and she visibly shook herself a little in order to wave back, before turning back to the men to hear what they had to say.

Turning his gaze away from her, Adrien instead watched Nino as he slowly removed the cap from his head - looking for any sign that he should keep it on as he did so, but soon realising that none was coming and tugging it off quickly. “Well,” he said, returning his attention to the alternate version of his wife, “we learned we could do with getting hold of a book from my dad, except that’s going to be difficult without arousing suspicion.”

“Yeah…” Nino said absently, and Adrien noted he wasn’t the only one concerned by his behaviour when Marinette leaned into his friend’s personal space and gave him a stern look.

“Spill it, Lahiffe.”

Nino blinked and pulled his head back as if he’d only just realised she had stepped into his personal bubble, glancing up at Adrien to see the same confused look on his face. “Uh, it just occurred to me out there. According to Marinette here, the other you is still a model and so people are bound to recognise you more than they do back home ‘cause your face’ll still be plastered everywhere.”

Adrien’s eyes widened in horror as the same realisation Nino had already come to swept over him as he spoke. “I can’t go outside too much, or my dad will start to figure out there’s another me,” he said, “Even he can’t be that unobservant.”

“And there’s always your maman,” Marinette added, “She could notice too.”

Adrien’s eyebrows pinched together at yet another reminder that this Marinette didn’t know all that much about him -not really. Plagg came up to rest on his shoulder at her words, his paw resting against his cheek in an attempt at silent comfort. As much as he pretended he didn’t care about sentimental things, the little God had long ago proven to Adrien that he wouldn’t let him handle all of his hurt alone. “His mom’s been gone a long time now. It’s just his dad,” he told Marinette in a soft tone.

They watched as her soft expression dropped and her mouth became a thin line of confusion. Adrien instantly recognised it as the face she usually made whenever she was trying to figure out a stubborn dress pattern or when a work project was giving her issues. It was a look that told him something didn’t quite make sense to her, but that she was determined to work it out. “But she was just on TV last week talking about upcoming fashion shows your father’s designs will be featuring in,” she said.

The rest of the world dropped away, and immediately Adrien could only see the face before him, could only concentrate on the one before him speaking impossible things into his existence. “What!?” he croaked.

“Your mom,” her lips formed, the words echoing around his head long after she’d spoken them, “She’s not gone. She’s been helping run the Agreste empire for as long as I can remember.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A depressed Chat watches the Agreste mansion from a distance. Is there anything that can help him feel less numb?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and a further two chapters have been requested by the lovely Simply_Zerah. Thanx sweets x

A shadow sat atop the Parisian rooftops, the Place de Vosges a less than ideal perch for one attempting to stay hidden, but Chat had never been very good at sticking to a low profile.

His baton open in front of him, he was zoomed in on the windows of the Agreste mansion, checking them one by one, vainly attempting to catch sight of the person he hadn’t seen in years. The one he desperately wanted to lay eyes upon again.

He sighed despondently as he desperately tried to merge together the picture he had in his mind’s eye of his mother -warm and sweet with such a lovely youthful face- with the one Marinette had shown him pictures and video clips of. It had been obvious to him that she would look so much older now, that was just to be expected after fourteen years. Although she had aged gracefully, the lines on her face, and the distinguished streaks of grey were still apparent. But that wasn’t what had unsettled him.

From the pictures and videos he had seen, she rarely seemed to smile anymore -or at least not the way he remembered it. In his memory there was a wonderful light to her, a glow which lit up the entire room she was in whenever she graced someone or something with her radiance. In the past, she had always shown warmth with her whole face, expelling pure joy and love when she did. Her photographs now seemed to consist solely of modelling expressions, her head held high and face blank -aloof and unattainable. The video interviews he had watched showed her smiling at reporters and other fashion icons, but the look almost had a calculated and almost wrong look to it. The sweetness seemed false and her face held none of the energy he remembered. The smile never reached her eyes.

She looked almost tired.

 

There was a soft thud beside him, and it was so recognisable that Chat never even took his eyes from his baton screen as he continued to cycle through the windows. “Thought I’d find you here,” said Carapace as he settled himself on the tiles below, “Any luck?”

“Nope. No sign of her or my dad,” he said with a sigh, “Though if you check out my old bedroom, you’ll see yours truly.”

Carapace’s head lifted abruptly in shock. “Really?” he asked, lifting his finger to tap the side of his goggles as he too zoomed in on the mansion windows. A few seconds of silence passed as Carapace adjusted his focus until he finally spotted the figure slumped over on his front on the white couch, having apparently dozed off while watching TV.

“Wow,” he told Chat with a sarcastic snort, “Attractive.”

One of alternate Adrien’s arms had clearly been thrown over his forehead before he rolled over onto his stomach and was currently lodged between him and the couch awkwardly. His shirt sleeve was sure to leave strange lines on his face when he finally moved. He had also managed to wiggle his knees beneath him so that his butt stuck up in the air and, _of_ _course_ , he was drooling, the light from the television making the moisture glisten so it stood out even from this distance.

Chat sniggered despite his dark mood. It had been unsettling at first -to spot himself- and it had only added to his list of things to freak out about internally. As it turned out, it wasn’t the same as seeing an advertisement or an interview like had often happened years ago, because he was too actively aware that this was another _living_ version of himself. But he had to admit, Marinette was right when she told him he looked utterly ridiculous while he slept. Why did she always have to be right about the embarrassing things?

The picture on his baton screen cut out unexpectedly and a harsh ringing tone sounded on it, startling a yowl from him. It only took a second for him to calm himself, one hand on his chest to try to slow his thumping heartbeat, before he raised an eyebrow at Carapace. He recognised the number showing on the display and he knew there was only one way that number would have known how to contact his baton. “She’s always been better at getting you out of your own head than me, dude,” the other hero said with a small smile he noted was laced with sadness, before he leapt to the edge of the row of buildings in order to afford Chat some privacy.

Taking a deep breath and screwing his green eyes tight shut for a moment, he exhaled deeply before finally pressing the button to answer the incoming call. “Hello?”

“Um, Hi…Adrien?”

His chest ached horribly at her hesitance. She even sounded unsure about a simple phone conversation. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Nino said you might need to talk to someone,” she said, a hint of trepidation in her voice, “He…he seemed to think…that it should be me.” A pregnant pause followed and Chat remained silent for a moment as he considered how to talk to her. Normally he would spill out everything to Marinette -every painful and ugly thought that briefly passed through his mind, but that wasn’t what people did to someone who barely knew them. And this particular Marinette wasn’t likely to know how to deal with his rants, because she was in fact a stranger to him.

“I…miss you,” was what finally fell between the empty ends of the line.

“Well, um, I guess I get that you kind of do, even though I’m right here because actually I’m not. I mean, I might be me but I’m not _your_ me if you know what I mean, and I guess you do ’cause that must be all you’ve had to think about since you got here. I must be so different and after all you love me-”

There was a muffled squeak as she pulled the receiver away from her face and he heard the distant remains of _“Ohmygod did I really just say that?!”_ as she panicked. “Anyway, what I mean is,” she said, returning to her rambling, “how are you- Uh, Adrien are you okay?”

He absolutely wasn’t okay, he was far too busy trying to keep the volume of his laughter at a minimum so that he wouldn’t alert any of the Parisians in the park below to his presence. Tears began to stream down his face as he shook in utter mirth. He sobered up a little when he heard a hum of disapproval from her end of the connection but continued to break out into little giggles as he spoke.

“You’re not that different,” he told her, stopping momentarily to give a snort as he tried to repress another wave of laughter, “you still ramble when you’re flustered.”

“Oh.” She sounded a bit embarrassed and he could almost imagine the blush dusted across the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be.” Her refused to let her spiral into self-doubt right now. Not when he was finally feeling somewhat human again. “I think it’s funny when you do that. It’s…cute.”

“Oh!” Now she _really_ sounded embarrassed.

“Honestly, I think it helped. Things _are_ different here. But…you’re still you.”

She remained quiet and if it wasn’t for the whisper of breath his hearing detected on the other end, he would have thought she’d hung up or left.

He wiped away a remaining tear from the corner of his eye. “Thanks, Mari,” he said, and he couldn’t have held back the affection in his voice if he tried, “I’ll be back soon. I’ll see if I can pick up some peppermint hot chocolate on the way, though I might need to send Nino to get it, so I don’t get recognised.”

It was her favourite drink on chilly nights or when she was in desperate need of extra comfort of some kind and he expected her to comment on that, but she didn’t. “It’s going to be okay, Adrien,” she said, “You’re going to fix things.”

“See you soon, My Lady.” He ended the call a moment later, a hint of a blush on his face from his automatic use of the pet name he’d always used for her. She hadn’t said anything or spluttered at it, and that just made the dusting of pink across his cheeks intensify.

Just as he was moving to depart, Carapace reappeared, landing beside him once again. “Dude,” he said, shaking Chat’s shoulder as he did and pointing at the same window he had been trained on for the past few hours, “There’s something floating above Other-Adrien’s head. Take a look.”

Opening his baton again, he zoomed in on his alternate self’s sleeping form, narrowing his eyes as he tried desperately to focus on the tiny blue blur moving around him rapidly. The thing slowed for a moment to land on the golden tresses beneath it and Chat gasped.

“Is that a Kwami?” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't promise to write any faster but I know it definitely helps my motivation if I know people are enjoying this so consider leaving a comment or going to my Tumblr to request chapter 7 (No pressure though).
> 
> Find these chapters a little earlier at my Tumblr @paganinpurple (though not that much earlier as I have no willpower to hold back lol)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three heroes prepare to infiltrate the Agreste mansion and gather the Peacock kwami and it's Miraculous. Chat uses a special ability to keep everyone included...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter requested by the lovely Simply_Zerah. Sorry it took me so long!

Chat Noir touched down on the _Place de Vosges_ in the same spot as the other night, his baton opening and zooming in on his bedroom window instantly. A soft thud beside him indicated Carapace had caught up to him and with nothing more than a quick glance up to confirm it, Chat returned to his watch.

There -as expected- was his alternate self, asleep in bed this time around -though no more gracefully than before- and a now very familiar blue streak circling above him in rapid movements which made details hard to make out.

Returning his baton to its home screen option, Chat began to swipe through screens looking for the magical software he required to continue with the next stage of their little espionage mission. Activating the little icon, strange visors slid down in the opening of his mask over his eyes, virtually invisible to anyone not looking for it. There was an uncomfortably sharp zap of static electricity across his eyes that would have made him yelp in pain if he hadn’t been expecting it before his baton gave a beep and the visors retracted again. He screwed his eyes shut and opened them again a few times, causing them to water for a moment before he got it under control.

Internally grumbling to himself, he wiped his eyes dry. He had always hated having to use _Cat’s Eye_ for hero work. There were definitely times he envied his wife her less unpleasant secondary powers. Being the embodiment of destruction could be pretty uncomfortable at times.

Removing the small earpiece from the bottom of his baton, he quickly placed it into his ear before tapping in a number. As he moved his thumb towards where the call button usually was, he instead bypassed it, instead pressing a rounded icon with what was clearly a cat’s eye on it just below. He listened to the sound of ringing in his earpiece, his chest warming as the contact picture filled the screen in front of him. The line connected and brief hellos were exchanged between him and the other voice as another, louder thud -accompanied by some heavy breathing and a few aged groans- announced Jade Turtle’s arrival behind the two heroes already present. Chat rolled his eyes involuntarily, failing to see the need for the unfit, hard-headed reptile.

“Adrien?” Marinette asked breathlessly from his earpiece, “Are-”

“Chat Noir,” he reminded her, “I’m Chat right now.”

“Okay. Chat, are you sure you want me on this? I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.”

“I know you don’t understand a lot of this stuff anymore, but I still feel better with you having eyes and ears on things. You’re more observant than me. And…you have good instincts.”

“Um, okay. But I’ve got to say this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done. I’m staring at my phone screen but I’m seeing what you’re looking at. Every time you blink, I’m reminded that this isn’t some normal camera feed. That it’s directly connected to your sight somehow.”

“Magic,” he said with a light chuckle, “You either go with it, or it starts to drive you wild after a while.”

“Riiight…” she said, her own laughter starting to bubble over, “Just do me a favour and stop giving M- Jade Turtle the side-eye.”

“I wasn’t!” he spluttered.

“Uh huh, I can see it, you know.”

 

This strange revelation that not everything was as normal as suspected at the Agreste Manor had led to some wonderful side effects recently. Being as distracted as he was by the new discovery, Adrien had no brain-power left to over-think his familiarity with Marinette. No longer was he too keenly aware of keeping his distance in order to avoid making her uncomfortable and as a result, she seemed to have gotten used to his casual closeness to her.

He hadn’t noticed that first time when he’d absent-mindedly made her some tea-just the way she liked it- while he also fixed himself something to drink, but it had quickly grown from there. He had sat down right beside her on the couch instead of leaving room between them, his thigh pressing against hers intimately as he explained that the Peacock kwami -Duusu- had fled the moment the other Adrien had started to stir. When she had gotten anxious over thoughts of what might happen next, he had reached over and taken her hand to still her fingers from tapping dents into the couch cushion. The next morning, she had dashed about her apartment trying to make room for Master Fu, who was on his way over to discuss their next move. Her hair had been loose and still damp from the shower and it had kept falling into her eyes or irritating her by sticking to her skin. So, he’d automatically grabbed a hair tie from her stash in a box by the coffee table and, as she reached up to place something on a shelf- the only moment she’d remained even briefly still- he’d stepped forward and pulled it all into a messy bun atop her head for her.

By the time Nino had pointed out what he had been doing, Marinette had stopped reacting as if it were strange. And now…now she was treating it as if it was her normal, everyday experience. She was choosing to sit beside him now when she had plenty of options to give herself space. She would place a hand on his shoulder as an act of comfort if the conversation switched to his mother being alive here. She was acting as if he had always been here in her reality, and she had gotten used to his presence over the years the way he had with her. It gave him a warm, comfortable glow in his chest that helped ease the worry over getting home.

“Our main priority should be to retrieve Duusu and her miraculous at all costs,” Jade Turtle said, moving forward to stand beside where Chat was crouched on the rooftop, “We should not wake the man if we can help it.”

Chat Noir rolled his eyes for the second time in the past fifteen minutes and caught the indignant glare Carapace shot him from his peripheral at the same time Marinette made a scolding _hmm_ in his ear. He quickly glanced back at his baton and zoomed in on the window again.

“We might not be able to help waking **_me_** up,” he said sheepishly, determined to remind the old man that he was the same person and not some unimportant bystander, despite the touch of shame the others had sparked in him, “But I have some ideas on hiding places in the mansion. Just in case my father or mom know they have a magical artefact, and have it locked away somewhere.”

“Chat, it looks like the kwami is getting tired,” Marinette’s voice mumbled in his ear, “It’s getting slower and it’s sort of swaying instead of circling. Almost like it’s drunk or something.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, switching to address the others without looking away, “Mari thinks Duusu’s tired or she’s overdone it or something. Look.”

True to Marinette’s word, the little peacock was floating back and forth in a curved line in the air, descending slowly as she did like a feather falling without a breeze to throw her off course. As they all watched through the zoom feature on their various devices, she landed softly on the alternate Adrien’s chest and closed her eyes lazily, a small smile on her face.

“Okay,” Carapace said, a leadership quality falling over the timber of his voice suddenly, “Everyone remember their jobs?” The other two nodded their heads and readied themselves to parkour from the rooftop at any moment. “Then let’s go!”

 

The other Adrien didn’t wake any sooner than he had expected to, despite the mission happening around him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat and the others make their way inside the mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanx to both Simply_Zerah for requesting this chapter and to the-wonders-of-self-indulgence on Tumblr for betaing this for me.

****It hadn’t taken long for Chat Noir to use his claws to unlock one of the windows in Gabriel Agreste’s atelier and slip inside. As dark as it was, he could clearly see the layout with his night vision and relied on that and the careful warnings Marinette whispered into his ear to guide him safely across the room without tripping any of the sensor beams that activated the alarm.

It was, therefore, only a moment before he reached the large painting on the far side of the room. It had been commissioned years before his mother had gone missing, so he wasn’t surprised to find it in the same place it hung back home and he took a second to glance over the piece in its splendour.

His mother had always been a huge fan of art and Gustav Klimt's _The Lady in Gold_ had been her absolute favourite during her studies, so his father had given her a recreation, with her own face instead. It had been on their first wedding anniversary after his company had taken off successfully; a small flash of wealth and a celebration for them both. For both his father and himself, it now served as a memorial to her and it often caused Adrien more sorrow than joy when he took the time to contemplate it.

“You okay?” came the soft voice in his ear and Chat realised belatedly that his eyes were wet.

Shaking himself a little as if to wake himself from his daydream and wiping his face with the back of his hand, he quickly nodded –knowing she would see the movement from her end. He moved to pull the painting from the wall on one side, quickly finding the latch that held it in place and swinging the whole thing towards him on its hinges. He heard Marinette gasp as it revealed the safe hidden behind it.

He would have much preferred to use Plagg to phase through the lock, but he would’ve lost his connection to Marinette and he didn’t want to risk being caught as Adrien –which would be difficult to explain– all because he didn’t have his enhanced hearing. Instead, he quietly called for _Cataclysm_ , barely whispering the word before the black destructive energy bubbled over his hand. Pressing his palm to the safe door, he watched as it dissolved away into nothing, leaving only a blackened edge to the surrounding area.

“Okay, _that_ was…kinda cool,” Marinette said, sounding impressed. He failed to hold back the snicker it elicited in him as he started to look through the contents of the safe, finding something of interest just as Carapace's voice drifted through his earpiece.

“Dudes,” he said, sounding nervous, “I think we have a problem.”

As he finished speaking the atelier flooded with light dramatically. In shock, Chat spun himself around to face the person towering by the doorway, the light from above casting ominous shadows down the length of their torso. The tall, slim silhouette of Gabriel Agreste was as fierce and intimidating as ever, but Chat took confidence from his Miraculous and the abilities it granted him to stand firm and proud where he was.

“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house?” Gabriel asked, voice deceptively quiet, but cold nonetheless.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Carapace muttered at the same time Marinette called out his name.

Forcing a little more bravado into his stance and letting his signature smirk fall into place, Chat took out his baton to lean against, attempting a nonchalant tone when he spoke. “Bit big to be calling this place a house, isn’t it?”

Gabriel glanced at the safe behind the oddly dressed stranger as the man leant forward on his baton, and a wrinkle of confusion passed across the older man’s face. “How did you remove the door to my safe?” he said, beginning to glance around the floor for it, “Where is it?”

“I don’t think that’s really the most relevant question right now,” Chat said, reaching back into the safe while keeping Gabriel in his peripheral eyeline, “I think it’s much more important to ask how you came to have _these_.”

Removing his hand from the opening and outstretching it in front of him –to ensure Marinette would be able to get a good look as well –he watched Gabriel glance down at the two Miraculous in his clawed hand. To his credit, the older man was very good at hiding his panic, but Chat had known to expect a reaction and could feel the strain and tension that he gave off, as an almost physical force in the air between them.

“They have no monetary value. They are purely sentimental,” he said, as a drop of sweat formed across his forehead and dripped down his nose, “Now, the voice detectors have likely picked you up as an unknown intruder. The police will be on their way, so I suggest you put those back and leave before they arrive.”

“You’re cool, man,” he heard from his ear and Chat couldn’t help but chuckle as he pulled the Butterfly and Peacock pins back in towards his torso.

“Actually, my colleague is pretty good with tech and he assures me he has all the outbound communications well under his control, so I’m not worried. Besides, I have a feeling I’m on the whitelist and wouldn’t be flagged anyway.”

“Chaaaaat,” Marinette chastised, “Careful not to give away anything.”

He tutted once in an attempt to reassure her he knew what he was doing. There was little else he could do without drawing attention to his words. “Now, I believe I asked you how you found these…artefacts.”

“Gabe? What’s going on?”

Both men turned to the doorway as a woman appeared in the entryway. She was wrapped in a lavender robe which she clutched close to her chest and her grey-streaked blonde hair fell loose and limp across her shoulders, tousled from sleep.

“Emilie!” yelled Gabriel –no, his father– and the woman –his mother– flinched in shock. “Get out of here! Get Adrien and go find some help!”

Everything seemed to slow, and Chat watched in shock as his mother’s eyes turned to his, wide and full of terror as she realised he was there and was fearful of what he might do. His father moved his body in front of hers, using himself as a shield in the event that their intruder might attack. He was shouting something, but Chat had no idea what he shouted as all he seemed to hear suddenly was a ringing in his ears. There were faint undertones of other voices in his ear, but their words were also completely unrecognisable.

All Chat was capable of hearing was the choked sob his mother suddenly gave at the sight of him and mentally, he found himself thrown back into his childhood, just a little boy approaching his mother’s bedroom door as he heard her sob for a reason he couldn’t remember.

* * *

_“Mommy?” he called before pushing the door open wider, seeing his mother quickly wiping her eyes once he moved far enough into the room that she came into sight. She turned to him and gave him an enormous smile, her eyes still wet and puffy, as she scooped him up into a crushing hug._

_“It’s nothing,” she said, “Something just gave mommy a fright, that’s all.”_

_“Was it me? Did I frighten you?” he asked, his little face pouting at the thought._

_“Of course not, my love,” she said, pressing the tip of her nose to his and rubbing them together until he burst out into happy little giggles, “You could never frighten me.”_

* * *

“Mommy?” Chat said as his transformation melted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> D: I hate causing my babies angst, but needs must. Let me know what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> This feels like it could easily spawn it's own whole fic at some point but I'm too busy to do this just for fun. Feel free to request another part if you want it though my Tumblr @paganinpurple


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